My kid only gets her stocking stuff from Santa and she helps with as much decoration as she can so it’s not like she doesn’t work for it. She knows what came from Mom, Dad, Mom & Dad, Granpa, Granma, Aunty, Santa, etc. Her face doesn’t light up any more or less when she tears open a package (like a lion tearing at the jugular of a zebra I might add) unless she has a whole lot of stuff then she starts to wear out at the end, as is typically the case. This is not a bad problem to have and I usually get a chuckle out of seeing her run down. Yes, there is such a thing as too much, unless it comes to love.

The whole CHRISTmas (as some folks like to remind) holiday is pretty surreal and fun and the way I celebrate it I wouldn’t mind calling it Yuletide or something else. Actually I’d prefer Yuletide if Christmas weren’t so ingrained. It’s not like The Church ever appropriated a local pagan holiday or hero in an effort to appease the recently proselytized heathen masses… or is it? And it’s not like it was merely a small family celebration until Hallmark kicked the door open at the turn of the 1900’s…

Santa rocks, especially the version in Futurama where he’s a weapon toting Terminator and it’s called X-Mas and people stay indoors terrified of him. I could get behind a Santa like that… and feed him ammo.

We need more whimsical holidays here in The States. Or bank holidays. Not enough damn holidays in this country… I still want a national civil rights or suffrage day that celebrates all the people and actions it took to get us where we are today. I’m always surprised by the number of amendments required to underscore for the biased that citizens of the US of A are indeed free and have equal access to voting stations, public spaces, etc, etc. Check out the 13th, 15th, 19th and 24th amendments but don’t look at the 18th Anti-Partying amendment. We’re still reeling from that one well after it’s repeal.

There seems to be a lot of amnesia going around or a very dippy attitude that the way things are today has always been this way and that it’s all set in stone. I am also guilty of this at times, but rights come and rights go.

MLK Day, Jan 17th (observed by all 50 states for the first time in the year 2000!?!?), is what we get for civil rights and has not only an interesting observance history but also some fairly recent alternate names.

Note: I’m not sure how it’s supposed to logically encompass the Women’s Suffrage movement and although MLK Jr. was a beneficiary, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t around for the abolition movement.

I guess Utah was kind of on the right course with the name “Human Rights Day”, although they could’ve picked a different day entirely instead of looking like they weren’t trying to give the man his props… but still a lot closer to the mark than Arizona was… ahem.

…anyway, some crumbs for thought as we close out the year and start a new one. 🙂

I wish everyone Happy (respective) Holidays (whenever yours may occur) and a Happy (christian calendar) New Year. And every other kind of year. And please, if you can’t party safely at least do it in a way where you’re not gonna hurt someone else. That’s all anyone asks.

Cheers!

Steve